As we went through the rolling hills of the Black Hills, we decided to get a little competitive and we each aimed to be the first spot a president. I (James) won. My loss in Bocce ball the other night now stung a little less.
We came into the park and took the usual photographs you have to take when you are at Mt. Rushmore.
And then we heard a Park Ranger announce that he would be leading a group tour in a few moments and all were welcome.
Sweet.
We joined in and learned a lot. It made us appreciate Mt. Rushmore a lot more than if we didn’t go on the tour.
The term “Sioux,” we learned, was actually derogatory as it was a name that the tribal enemies used to call the Sioux. Instead, the nation was made up of the Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota people and that “Lakota” was how this nation preferred to be called.
One of the things that impressed us was that the Park Ranger didn’t tip-toe around the mistreatment of the American Indians. The Lakota view the Black Hills as sacred grounds. The ranger likened it to what Mecca is for Islam and what the Vatican is for Catholics. The Lakota believe that this is the land where the Holy Spirit exists.
The Lakota were forced into the Black Hills in the mid-1800s by the US government. The two nations signed a treaty and the Black Hills were promised to the Lakota forever.
“Forever lasted six years,” the ranger said. The US government wanted them off of their land and offered them $10 million and a new treaty. The Lakota didn’t sign and continue to count the land as theirs.
And so, how ironic and… wrong… it is that four white guys get to stare out into their sacred land for eternity.
Adding another layer of complication to this site is an interesting tidbit of history. The sculpture for Mt. Rushmore was originally commissioned to sculpt Stone Mountain. A similar edifice celebrating Confederate war generals in Georgia. And then a local thought that if they were doing that and that it would bring visitors to the region, then why couldn’t they do that in South Dakota?
So they sought out the sculpture in charge of the Stone Mountain carvings. Apparently he was in quite an argument with the original commissioners of carving, the Daughters of the Confederacy. Things got so rough that he decided to roll the only models off of the design over a cliff. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he thought that now would be the perfect time to move to South Dakota.
And so he created history – what our tour guide called “a monumental poem in stone.” He died before the mountain was finished and they decided to leave it as it is. Apparently Lincoln was supposed to be seen clutching his lapel and Washington was supposed to have a full bust. Few, if any, artists wanted to interpret another artist’s work.
